Spider-Man 3

Of course, with the good comes the bad: Pete/Spidey has not one, but three baddies to deal with: Harry Osborn (James Franco) is still seeking revenge for his father's death and has become the new Goblin; Flint Marko (Thomas Haden Church) is an escaped convict - and allegedly the real killer of Peter's Uncle Ben - who is now capable of becoming a giant sand creature known as Sandman, and rival Bugle photojournalist Eddie Brock (Topher Grace) becomes a creature named Venom when some black goo from outer space attaches to his body.

Speaking of that alien gloop, known in the film as a symbiote, prior to attaching to Brock it attaches itself to Peter. This helps bring out the dark side of both he and Spidey. Because of the alien substance, Parker/Spidey finds himself causing more harm than good, not only to the city of New York, but to those closest to him. Peter realises the severity of the situation, but finds the allure of being bad too much to resist.

If that isn't enough to cram into 140 minutes, there are also these subplots: Mary Jane's fledgling Broadway career; a romantic triangle between Parker, MJ and Peter's lab partner - and possible girlfriend to Brock - named Gwen Stacy (Bryce Dallas Howard); a second triangle between Parker, MJ and Harry, a victim of short-term memory loss caused by his first fight with Peter over the city of New York.

Sam Raimi is a fine filmmaker and proved not once, but twice, to be the ideal choice to bring Spider-Man to the big screen. He knew how to get excellent performances out of his cast, backed by great storytelling abilities and a focused directorial hand. Most importantly, Raimi knew how important it was to get the viewer to care about all of the characters, be they friend or foe. The terrific balance between the spectacular and the intimate was what made the first two Spidey flicks standouts in the superhero genre. When it was announced that most of the cast and crew from the last film were returning for this film, it was hard not to get a sense of assurance and excitement that the newest chapter would be just as good as the first two.

Unfortunately, Spider-Man 3 invokes false hope, disappointment and even boredom. The first two movies kept things relatively simple and straightforward. Parker/Spidey's origin story and relationships were nicely handled in the 2002 original and smartly expanded upon in the 2004 sequel. The filmmakers also made the smart choice of only having one villain per film, which gave them plenty of time to properly develop the story, the characters and their motivations.

Regrettably, Raimi and fellow screenwriters Ted Raimi and Alvin Sergeant felt the need to up the ante by cramming three new villains, a couple of grade-school mentality romantic triangles, Parker‚s internal struggle between good and evil (complete with a painful Nutty Professor-type sequence toward the end that was reminiscent of Superman III (enough said) and Harry's short-term memory loss all within the span of two and a quarter hours. All that this overstuffing accomplishes, aside from paying fans lip service and justifying the film's budget, is producing comic book paper-thin characters you could care less about (both new and established, I'm afraid) that are involved in situations that smack more of coincidence than competent writing.

Raimi's directing this time round is pedestrian, working in fits and starts, only occasionally showing the spark he displayed in the previous flicks. More often than not, it feels like that Raimi is simply going through the motions, giving us lacklustre action sequences and surprisingly sluggish pacing. I could be a bit more tolerant if this was a new director to the series. But this is the same person who has brought their game to the franchise twice before. Raimi seems to have had his fill with the Spider-Man film series, and it shows.

The cast also seems to be following Raimi's lead, going through the motions as well en route to a big fat payday. Maguire does try his best to breathe new life into the Parker/Spidey character and seems to have some fun with exploring his dark side, but in the end it is too little too late (it doesn't help that Peter is a smug, egotistical jackass for most of the film). Dunst's MJ, lively and appealing in previous films, is a bitter bore capable of one expression: moping. (Making matters worse: Dunst sings in the film - twice!) Franco is tolerable, but that's not saying much. Franchise newcomer Church, thanks to having no character to work with, barely makes an impact as Marko/Sandman; while Grace comes across more as irritating than menacing and Howard is saddled with a blonde bimbo role who disappears in the third act with no explanation whatsoever.

Spider-Man 3 is the film I feared Spider-Man 2 was going to become: a half-assed follow up to a genuinely wonderful piece of summertime entertainment. Budgeted at a reported US$258 million, this overstuffed and underwhelming visual effects love fest has little of the heart and excitement of the first two entries. It could have - and should have - been a much, much better film.

share Tweet